Final Moments
by Galaxy Eclipse
Summary: SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 697! Looking back, his life hadn't been all that bad... Right? In a few short moments Naruto is inconclusive and just can't figure out what he wants anymore. What more is there for you to strive for once you've reached the end?


**SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 697!**

**Unedited one-shot that I wrote during my finance class when I was supposed to be taking a test. Aren't I smart... Anyway, please provide feedback for me on this, it's not the sort of thing I would usually do.**

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><p><em>"<em>_That's what the title of Hokage means to me."_ The sword tip scratched lightly across my neck, leaving a thin red line. A few seconds later a few small drops of blood slid down my neck and plopped into the water below, where they dissipated and were washed away by the tiny ripples that our chakras were creating. His words echoed ominously in my head_. "You're my only true friend..."_ Our earlier conversation began to replay in my mind over and over, repeating the same sentences.

_"__Then what's going to happen to the village after you die?"_

_"__With rinnegan I can live forever cloaked in shadows._" I strayed off on another tangent, forgetting that my life was on the line. Any second Sasuke could decide that my time among the living was over.

How could you even think of doing that to yourself? After all these years you finally decided to suck it up and come home! Do you know how many times I've dreamed of this moment? We would take the jounin exam together, eventually become ANBU… (Of course I would have to actually pass the chuunin one first… Dumb for me to get disqualified for using Sage powers. I mean it's just another technique right?) When did you become so twisted?

That time in Team Seven was some of the best in my life because I finally had friends. At last I had people who would feel a sense of loss if I was killed. I know that you care about me. That day on the bridge when we were fighting Haku… I was convinced that you were dead. Why did you jump in front of me that day? Why did you spare me at the Valley of the End the last time we met? Just like now, I was clearly the loser, but instead of putting me out of my misery you decided increase my suffering. That worn, muddy blue band dropped down next to me, with the telltale scratch through Konoha's symbol.

That "keepsake" of sorts was what drove me onward. It symbolized everything that I was unable to achieve, no matter how hard I tried. Time after time I raced ahead towards the goal of bringing you back, only to fail again. A lousy ninja who can't even save his own best friend isn't worthy of being Hokage. It showed me every time I saw it, felt it in my pocket, that I was a good-for-nothing that had achieved undeserved recognition. The person who I yearned to acknowledge me was none other than you, Uchiha Sasuke, my greatest rival and true best friend.

I chased you. For years I followed your movements, but never succeeded in bringing you home. It seems like the only thing that can lure you in is revenge or power. I don't want to think of you that way though because it would destroy our friendship. I guess you really are just an avenger, and our relationship is completely one-sided.

Are you going to spare me again? It's the same valley, we're the same people. I can't go on running any further. Of course I have other comrades among the villagers now, but they could never replace what he had. My time sprinting ahead is finished; you haven't listened to me before, why would you now? I've already broken my promise. Those words I said,

"_I'll never let any of my comrades die."_ It was naive; something that I shouldn't have ever thought was possible. Neji was impaled right before my eyes! He said that I was the reason he had changed. Because I called him a genius that day years ago during the chuunin exam battles. Did it really mean so much to him?

_"__Remember, Hinata-san would die for you. You hold more than one life in your hands." _Then maybe it would be better for me to stop getting my friends killed. Maybe you have the right idea. When you have friends all you do is get them killed when you screw something up. Look at Obito and Kakashi-sensei. After all this time they're still at odds over something that neither of them could have controlled. And every single day that we're in the village since I've known Kakashi he's gone to stand in front of that memorial stone. Back when we were Team Seven we always yelled at him for being late, and he would give some lame excuse like,

_"__I had to help an old woman with her groceries." _He had a legitimate reason for being a few hours late every day, but instead of letting people know he kept all the pain inside himself and embraced the terrible reputation he received.

Everything is falling apart at the seams, and in the end there's going to be nothing left. All that's left is a line of prodigal instructors and students that get assassinated one after another over stupid disputes. The Senju and Uchiha wiped each other out, ending with Hashirama and Madara. Jiraiya taught Yondaime, who was killed by Kurama. Old man third and his son Asuma are both dead now, slain by his own student and Akatsuki respectively. You killed Orochimaru, much like he assassinated his own master. What's next? Tsunade and Sakura-chan dying? Then I know what comes next. Pain already took care of Jiraiya. I guess my time is long overdue.

Even the "evil" that the villages look down on spawned from normal ninja who were forced through too many deaths. How much can you take before there's nothing left to give?

Make your choice teme, I'm not going to pressure you. So tell me Sasuke, what will you do? I'm prepared to die. Have I not made my point yet?

"Itachi understood how it works. That's why he strung you along and killed your clan." Will you forgive me for pointing out the harsh truth to you? Doubtedly. That's just who you are.


End file.
